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Moritz Stiefel
Moritz Stiefel is the Deuteragonist in the play and musical of Spring Awakening. He dies in both from the anxiety of school and neglect/abhorrence of his parents. John Gallagher, Jr. played Moritz in the Original Broadway Cast. Background Moritz Stiefel is a fifteen year old school boy, living in Germany in the 1890's. Moritz is terrified of failure and is awkward around his peers. In the musical and play his best friend is Melchior Gabor (who is a year younger than Moritz, but far more knowledgeable on many subjects). Their juxtaposing qualities means their friendship is not understood by anyone in the town. Melchior is considered to be a handsome genius and Moritz is considered quite the opposite. Moritz has been noted as a freak by his peers and a failure by his parents, causing him to be ostracized by all. Because of this, Moritz feels pressures to succeed in school and social life. Plot When introduced to Moritz, it becomes clear that he is in tight competition with Ernst Röbel to be promoted at school. Both of them were originally given conditions to work off in order to keep their spot. Moritz was very stressed over the time between his first promotion and his flunking out, to the point where he wasn't sleeping. Melchior tries to tutor Moritz but to no avail. Moritz's father (Rentier Stiefel) exclaimed that his actions are going to be to beat and disowned Moritz if he were to fail, so to avoid his fate Moritz attempts to flee to America. He asks Frau Gabor (Fanny) for a large sum of money. She refuses and offers to write to his parents in compensation. Despite this, Moritz decides that the only course of action is to kill himself. Moritz is kicked out of his home for failing and wanders the town at dusk, carrying a pistol. It is then that he runs into Ilse, an old childhood friend and playmate. She invites him to walk her home, as an attempt to prevent his suicide. He refuses and eventually causes Ilse to leave. Moritz soon realizes that Ilse was his last chance of escaping and calls after her but it is too late. In some adaptations of the Musical, Moritz proceeds to silence his voice by taking his microphone before signing his monologue and shooting himself. In the play, however, Moritz had been fascinated by the Headless Queen so he decapitates himself with the bullet (supposedly the gun was filled with water). In both adaptations Moritz attempts to persuade Melchior towards death. In the play Moritz appears headless in the graveyard, and tries to convince Melchior to join him in the afterlife. However, Melchior refuses and asks Moritz to wait until he's old, then he will take Moritz's hand and follow him through to death. In the musical Moritz and Wendla appear in the Graveyard. Originally Wendla is the influence for life in Melchior, saying that his sins are forgiven, and all he will ever be is still there waiting for him. Whereas originally Moritz is Melchior's influence for death, saying that he has nothing to live for without his family and friends. Eventually, however both join to support Melchior through this troubled time. Personality Moritz is introverted, intense and nervous. He strives to do well but is easily distracted and feels he will not become anything of worth unless succeeds in school. Fun Facts *Moritz's vocal type is tenor *Profoundly deaf in the Deaf West version of the musical and fails because of a bias against deaf students. *Passed his exam, but due to amount of students they could promote, he was failed. *His father works at a bank. *Considers Melchior's mother, Fanny Gabor, a friend/second mother. *In the Deaf West production a teacher makes fun of Moritz's voice *Moritz is severely discriminated against for being Deaf and the teacher enacts a brutal oral method on him that is shown to be destructive (the same is done to Otto Lammermeier and Ernst Robel, but Otto responds better than the other boys). Michael Arden states in the playbill that Moritz was marked as an "oral failure", meaning he could not talk and, because of the eugenics at that time and the Milan Conference, was considered worthless. In the Deaf West Revival, this and his father's shame at his son being labeled as such are serious factors in Moritz's suicide. *If he were any fruit he would be a guava. Pictures __FORCETOC__ Category:Character Category:The Boys